Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Off to the grocery we go, ho, ho,ho...and other more interesing topics...that we know,so...

Grocery shopping can be an adventure if you allow it to be, what, huh, eh?
You see when your life is as exciting as ours you take what you can get, LOL…
And we did do major shopping there today due to it being the end of the month when Hubby’s pension check has arrived.

Having two months that are so extreme in how many days they have with the least and the most allowed also does make you realize the cupboards were starting to look a wee bit bare; February having only twenty eight days and March with a generous thirty-one, check comes in the end of the month, and the state of Florida doesn’t care how many days in that month, got that?
Social Security comes in usually around the third of the month but makes allowances for holidays, weekends etc. So that should be here any day now.
What I usually do is pay as many bills I can with the first check whatever is leftover we go grocery shopping, get gas etc. and the rest with second also managing to put a bit away first for emergencies, and then what’s left is for joyous occasions, huh, what?

Still waiting, I have faith they will come soon or some day in our near future, I can feel it in my bones. (That’s another thing I am back to using my walker in the house, those bones and muscles are acting up again. I thought it was our rain, but now it’s dry as ever… for our dry season.)
Anywho, we do manage to find things to keep us busy and out of most trouble during the month.

Hubby still has a few projects in the works, like repairing the dock; perhaps adding on to the boardwalk in another direction, as it is now it only goes down to the dock from alongside of our swimming pool to the end of it then down about fifty feet with the diamond pattern containing the Tangelo tree in part of the remaining distance.

I personally have begun my own project; before we went into our Publix grocery store we went over to our Jo-Ann’s Fabrics and Crafts in the same shopping center and picked up the things needed for me to create my plaque for over Charlie’s gravesite.
My concept is to decoupage his picture of his image that I copied already onto paper, and then I will affix it to the oval shaped wooden plaque we found for a mere $2.97. Hubby has a Drummel type tool that he will be using to carve into the wood Charlie’s name and his dates of his life and death, his photo will be in the center and once done it will be lacquered with spar varnish, which we already had, to protect it from the elements, sound good?

I really do enjoy doing decoupage I have done it many times before, I used to do wedding invitations to send back to the happy couple as part of their gift, but since then I have done plaques for my cousins art studio, a trunk with Florida fish all over it in this room, our sunroom, the trunk was plain wood when we got it as a gift from our eldest son’s X-girlfriend when they were together that is. It’s really rather nice the top was done in a cherry wood stain the interior it is painted a beautiful Wedgwood blue, and the sides were first done in an off white crackle and then the fish were applied. Hubby cut them all out and I put them on!
Perfect for holding additional items that you may need and also does double duty as a coffee table in front of our sleep sofa in here, and we did put casters on it too, so it is perfect for us to move out of the way if need be.

That’s it for tonight, and yes, we did manage to get all that we needed at those two places and that is considered a success, right? You betcha.


Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Response to the news of Charlie's demise was heartwarming...

Let me explain, I received so many sympathy emails this morning I don’t recall the last time that happened in response to anything! And I just want each and every one of you who felt the need to respond to a creature’s death that you may or may not have known, but were sensitive enough to write with such tenderness and caring, it was very thoughtful of you all, and thank you.

The rest of our day today was uneventful in the truest sense of the meaning of the word, mundane.

Tonight though, on the news I heard something that was a wee bit disturbing to me it was that people who use the paid ambulance/EMS services are not paying their bills even with Medicare, who should be doing it for them. Well, I’ll be, since Hubby and I were both taken by ambulance to the hospital last April within weeks of one another and since the bill added to our other hospital related bills was quite high, more than $1200 for the two of us for just those two ambulance rides, adding into all those other bills we have been paying it off monthly since receiving the first bill last June. At the time Hubby’s Medicare coverage was not complete, (only part A but as of this summer he will have A and B as of July, which will cost over one hundred dollars more a month, a reduction of social security income) and I have none at all! But we have been paying those ambulances bills off in spite of that all these months!
People it is zero interest on medical bills so pay them!
We are not wealthy and until the pre-existing insurance comes around for me in 2014 (I will be 64 by then and probably already on Medicare at age 62?) I am currently uninsurable, and we have been paying monthly all they say we owe, including my January eye surgery. Gone are the days of taking health for granted and not worrying about getting sicker and needing hospitalization for my MS or whatever, anyone who says that black cloud does not follow you constantly is in denial.
You see I am an in-between, not poor enough for financial aid and not old enough for Medicare.

Back to the ambulance dilemma; I really bet though that some just cannot pay at all, and the news had the not so nice way of putting it that is why the more financially insurance secure people would end up paying for those have nots with receiving higher premiums! Well, folks that is why national health insurance is not such a BAD IDEA, got it?
It divvies up the cost of the pie more evenly for all people.
Feeling it in the pocketbook might be what it takes before you holdouts to realize that.
Compassion is what is needed we all need to think of the other guy or girl’s ills as if they were your own.
Sorry about my redundancy but I feel very strongly about this situation, you see not long ago we were the haves, and now we are the have-nots…only speaking health insurance wise thankfully and only for me not Hubby but it still stings just the same! In every other way I cannot complain we are extremely fortunate.

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, March 29, 2010

We lost another small soul in our lives...

If any of you have been wondering how our nearly thirty-one year old cockatiel has been feeling the answer is not too good for maybe two whole months, and last night he lost the aging gracefully battle with the ultimate ending, death!

I know that most feel that all creatures should keep up with life’s trials and tribulations by denying most of them, and just dance the days away…Well Charlie did that!
He never let his age get in his way in preventing him from doing whatever he loved to do.
Pooping, eating, singing with his outdoor friends when the windows were open, playing with his cage toys, he was a very well rounded and healthy old bird! And yes we were very saddened to see him go.

But we provided him with a fine send off, just the immediate family saying a few words over his gravesite throwing some dirt over his simple brown box coffin, this was all on our compound’s grounds right under the Ponderosa Lemon Tree where many of his friends had hung out, nearby the fishpond.

Charlie was there for all the other cats and dogs that came after him, and they were many that made it into our family’s lives. He chose wisely with whom he befriended and was extremely particular in those decisions, he would make a fuss and go berserk if he didn’t like you and just watch you if he did. But you gotta love the guy since he enjoyed learning whistles from my niece who passed away a couple a years ago, the eldest niece we had, the whistle was the wolf one, and he would repeat it back to us or just brazenly use it at will. He also would imitate the whippoorwill, which I don’t believe we had any down here in Florida, but that one must have been a leftover from NJ, what a memory he had.

When he was young he had been finger trained and we even have a picture somewhere of him standing on the back of our first family cat, named Puffy a grey and white, soft powder puff female, and also in that picture was our first male Yorkie, Benji, named for that famous one, and he was as bright as the movie one too.
An era has ended.

The house is a wee bit quieter today, since even while he had been so ill he did find the ability to vocalize sporadically, and we shall miss that very much.

Sadly, I would complain about his mess and even when we moved here we had tried to give him away, but nobody wanted him…I would tease our sons that he would be living with us well after they were grown and on their own and sure enough I was right. At the time we had gotten him they were six and three, and now they are 34 and 37 and long on their own.

On those memories I must admit with a bit of sadness welling up in my throat I will bid the old bird one last fond farewell dear old friend; it has been interesting and entertaining!

Good night to all and to all count those blessing and we will too!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Around we go and nobody knows where we will end up...

It is true that Hubby has had it basically with his Mom since she called the evil daughter and had forgotten why she had been told what she had, had happen to her back in the fall of this past year.
Since this went down it doesn’t mean that we have not been worried about her and her well-being because we also know that the helpful always there for Mom neighbor has also washed his hands of her for the same reasons.
And so I have taken it upon myself to call her daily to make sure she has eaten, taken her medicine, etc., and today I asked if she had someone to take her to church?
Unfortunately, she was waiting for that kindly neighbor; she always goes to mass there around 11:15 A.M., and he had been taking her. So she was waiting for him, she forgot that he told her no more and that is because she told him that she thought he too was out to get her and had told him so. I asked if she had heard from her daughter that maybe she would be taking her, meanwhile keeping her on the phone the whole time she was waiting to be picked up, but no one came to do that mundane task, not her neighbor, not her daughter, no one.
Smack in your face reality!
I asked if she had heard from her daughter or had she been taken out to eat or to the grocery by the daughter, no was the answer to both, only to the banks and that her daughter was picking her up tomorrow too, to go where I asked, she said we have an eleven o’clock appointment at the bank.
She started crying and even said she felt faint, I called her bluff and asked if she is living in the 1890’s and perhaps was getting the vapors? She began to laugh. I also said what happen to the tough lady who raised three children basically by herself and never let anyone push her around?

But she did want to get off the phone but honestly she said that she had to go to the bathroom, and so I called her back within the half hour to see if perhaps her ride was just late, and guess what I got a new woman!
One who was strong and forthright and realized that what I told her about seeing a doctor for her memory and walking difficulties was what she was going to do to take care herself, and she was calling the daughter up to tell her not to come to tomorrow! YEAH! Which she thought of all be herself I must add.
She had already last week asked for her check back from her moving down here from that independent living place but she had not received it, and insists that it was all her change of heart that no one influenced her, huh, ok…

I did mention the option of getting a home healthcare worker perhaps to come in to help her remember to eat and take her medicine a few days a week, and that perhaps Medicare would pay for it, but at least she would have someone to remind her. I said then if she wanted to stay put that could be another option.

Long distance care of the elderly with memory problems is not easy; all we can do is check as often as possible. Oh and do you know what the last thing is she said to me was? That she loved us both, me and Hubby that is and we said it back to her… that makes it seem all worthwhile…


Not really…since Hubby and I have been going loony from all this! LOL

On that pleasant note good night to all and to count your blessings and we will too!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Freedom of speech...YEA!

I am an American!
And I do believe in the freedom of speech!

But I thought the way it was written in the Bill of Rights as it being in the first amendment of the Constitution that if you insight to riot, then you lose that right?
At that time it referred to yelling fire in a crowded theater, but today wouldn’t it go further to create an atmosphere also to anger a mob or group of people that causes an environment which makes them feel the need to commit violent acts?

Come on people is it not true that all the negativity being spewed about this administration decisions are harmful to all Americans to some degree?

It is disturbing to me and many others that the threats of harm to people voting as they feel in their hearts for what they truly believe in to be helpful to others this should not cause them to be fearful of having an opinion. Too many do not agree.

Constitutionally we are all reading into the actual wordings with our own slants at times; don’t you agree?
Many interpretations are how we see what our forefathers were actually trying to say and to pass that down to us.

Some believe that the way they read those documents are the only way, and I must admit people do also have reasoning to go on with reading the Holy Bible in any edition. I cannot speak for other faiths only the Judo-Christianity ones that I am mostly familiar with.
But gosh over the years I have been shocked in what people think all those stories told really meant.
And so has the way people paraphrasing of our official papers stating how to run this fine country that we are lucky enough to live in.
Sadly, I bet the authors of those documents would be horrified of what we think they were telling us to do.

As an American I bet you know it is also OK to disagree with people about those aspects of interpretations, our differences from what you believed to be the case?
I know right now you are thinking WHOA… Tobi why so vague in what you are trying to say?
All right then I happen to disagree with many people who think they are right, and voice their opinions with full media coverage unlike my one dimensional shouting from this venue, unfair and not loud enough for all to hear!

In three months, children of pre-existing illnesses will benefit better from this new healthcare bill, which is good, but personally I will not since it will not be going into effect until 2014 for adults with pre-existing.

Contrary to many uninformed people not all uninsured are poor. I personally only do not have health insurance because I am pre-existing, and I have said this before way too many times to remember that I would much prefer to be paying off premiums rather than paying off my hospital bills and surgeries, which I am doing right now and that would be the same price as all those premiums! It does seem ridiculous to me that people think it is welfare. I suppose those are the same ones who currently receive Social Security and Medicare? Surprise so does my Hubby receive them, but not me! I am missing like two or three credits for disability, and I am too young for Medicare and our INCOME IS TOO MUCH for Medicaid! Hello fellow Americans, wake up and learn all the facts before assuming!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS Bro-in-law if you are so well-off why are you still working your butt off…; living above your means, are you? Hubby retired nearly four years ago due to his injury and we were smart enough to scale down twelve years ago due to my illness so we are financially capable of paying our bills without having to work a few jobs like you and have enough, since physically we are unable to anyway! So stop bragging about all you have; its getting old and very annoying, and a wee bit mean too!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Fix it, work it, fix it again...

Foreclosures are still way up there nationally and now the government is trying to rework loans along with encouraging financial institutions to reduce payments for people whose homes are worth less than what they initially owed, upside down, and paid for them, with throwing an additional 14B (billion) at them (the banks et all.) to do the right thing! I say… if only!

We all know how we got into this mess… greed from the banks and the people who refinanced at ridiculous amounts, when their homes were way over valued and now are literally just shells of their former selves, at pennies on the dollar.
Neighborhoods have turned into ghost towns all over the country.

At the time most took that extra money and bought themselves a piece of the pie, that is the lifestyle pie with either fixing their homes up or buying fancy cars, vacations or who knows what, but many were just trying to get lower payments when those interest rates had gone down, not those ARM’s rates of course since most adjustable rate mortgages that give you a low starting rate but then go sky high over the next few years with caps of almost twice what your initial payments were due to the interest going there too!

But we did the fixed rate 30 year reduction one at 5.12%, so we are still good, which we did do in 2003. And so far our home is still worth nearly twice what we paid for it; at least that is what zillow.com and our insurance company thinks, since they charged us higher premiums for more coverage for our homes value.

Most people were innocent to what they were getting themselves into in this foreclosure mess or lost their job through the bad economy and at no fault of their own, and I truly feel that we should take care of those brethren, but the greedy flippers, nah!
Those are the ones who bought a bunch of home on the cheap and thought they could get top rental price for those little muffins or sell quickly at a big profit, well surprise… no one could pay those premium prices and so they defaulted on their mortgages, which trickles down to the populous, and that means us of course!

“What a mess!” I think of Betty Davis, the actress, saying that line with one hand on her hip and the other in the air waving, but she was not referring to this mess… or was she?
She was a woman who went through, ‘the depression’; perhaps in those films those lines had subliminal or futuristic meanings; Hollywood in its hay day!

FDR did do a great job then, not unlike Obama in trying to do now, by taking the bull of misery by the horns and reacting in a positive way to ‘Change Things’. Tightening up our belts, learning again how to handle money, paying for what we need, not using credit unless you know you can pay all of it off at the end of the month! It’s simplicity at its finest; in other words using ‘common sense.’

We as a nation have to go back to basics, perhaps study the way our parents or grandparents lived and managed their monies, since they were the ones that knew how to save for a rainy day. Do we all really need immediate gratification? What happened to saving up for that special big ticket item?
Listen, America I do believe that we can all do it and we really have to learn to live on less and manage on that. As hopefully more jobs become available for the unemployed masses businesses won’t be able to pay those higher salaries and so we must learn to do as much as we can with less of that green stuff, called moola, money, cash or what-have- you we are an educable nation! And now we have the ability and absolute need to reeducate us all!

I have stepped away from my soapbox folks, and so good night to all and count those blessings and we will too!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Dye Is Cast...

Hubby’s sweet old Mom was too determined to not let well enough alone, and so she called her one and only daughter and that she had said had tried to commit her, and we know from her neighbors and the banks and attorneys that dear child also tried to steal all her money!
In fact Mom spent most of the day with that darling child of hers.
Lovely sweet Sis took Mom to here and there and mostly to her banks, for what we do not know?

Unfortunately, Mom has taken advantage so much of the neighbor he too has had enough.
He says that she has been right behind him when he has arrived home from work with his key in the door and expects him to take her out to dinner nightly and then to take her into his home and give her wine also nightly.

She was trying not to be honest on where she had been all day since her neighbor called us stating that she left earlier in the day and that when he tried several times during today to call her, he could not reach her. By the time he called Hubby he was worried, but called back moments later saying that she was now home, and wouldn’t tell him where she had gone or with whom.
Hubby lost it! She did finally confess to Hubby that she had been out with her daughter and to the banks and other places. Hubby was upset and asked her point blank and so you want her to put you away and steal all your money again?
She said who said that she did that?
Why you did Mom, but so did your neighbors and the banks and the lawyers that did the dirty deed on her behalf, Hubby reiterated back to her.

She definitely needs medical help, especially in being diagnosed with the dementia she does have! We have spoken to the Alzheimer’s Association care givers and they agree that she has many signs and symptoms that need to be determined and appropriate action should be taken to get her to the neurologist she needs to see, but now it appears that she will either be neglected or put away!

To be fair Hubby did ask her if she was going to move to Florida, and she said, I don’t know.
Well, neither do we, so sorry!
Sis is closer and has the upper hand now with just that being a factor.

Last night, Mom did ask for Hubby to come up to help her with picking out her items to move with, but he said that he cannot afford for him to go up there twice, and that he couldn’t leave me twice, due to my limitations (she never accepts anyone else’s physical problems even in her younger years, she just seems to have never had any compassion), and so this is probably why she did this!
To be fair she thought that if she wrote a check it would make it all better, but Hubby explained that he can come up only once, on our own monies by the way, after she settles in down here which he wants to help her with, and then he would go up there to make the arrangements for everything else to come down and to be put into storage so she could go through it all at her leisure. All said for the nth time!

Her neighbor and his younger girlfriend were going to help Mom pack the few items she would need to take and that would be here on her arrival.
All I have to say is too bad…
Too many people involved in this woman’s life who think they each mean well…meanwhile she was having a ball doing her old fashion manipulation, sorry but its’ true! I hate to be a bearer of reality but this meek old lady was a whopper of a manipulator from the onset, and I have know her since 1968 (Why that was forty-two years ago and she was only 47 then!), when I met her, and to each one of her child’s intended from our weddings and births of her grandchildren etc. Each one of the children left the nest as quickly as possible due to her being a wee bit overbearing. Hubby’s father was not allowed to attend our wedding or she wouldn’t come. Even at Sis’s he wasn’t allowed; Hubby gave his own sister away! She wanted to disown our first born if he was not brought up in her faith, but I soothed her after six months of her not speaking to us, and ever since I have never let her get away with anything with me! Now her behaviors have been significantly amplified, in that negative way unfortunately.

Sadly, Hubby has had it with her due to this contact with the enemy, her worst enemy so she told us, her daughter! And so now he feels it is over, and he can’t do anything, and Mom will be probably committed by his Sis, and she and his older brother who we have not heard from since he knew she was here for those eight days.
And who Hubby thinks is in cahoots with Sis, since he felt it necessary to let my Hubby know that he was executor of her will, and Hubby said she turned that over to him. He snidely mentioned that he has no mortgage and that we do, since Mom had given him property and he had sold it and paid it off and that it was out west, and I told him that Mom had offered it to us first years ago and that we had said to give it to him (brother), because he was closer to it! Then he shut up.

I suppose this was airing the dirty laundry night oh well as the world knows there are two sides to every story and I do believe this saga is still not completely over, but who really knows for sure…

Good night peeps, and count those blessings and we will too! :-[

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Dial 'M'

For Mom, but of course!

I spent most of the afternoon trying to find services that would assist us in helping Mom get down here for her new wonderful life with as little discomfort and anxiety as possible.
She has become overwhelmed with not understanding she has minimal stuff to pack as if she was going on an extended vacation and only a few pieces of furniture to be marked for the move with masking tape we suggested.

Hubby was up to his wazoo getting the yard in order mowing and trimming the grass and blowing the pathways. Fortunately, he has all the proper tools for all that.

I started the process of getting the two page list of numbers by calling our local dial-a- nurse explaining the situation with Mom and her health issues and so she was extremely helpful and was the main reason for the laundry list of available services, which led to additional contact numbers that we have been consistently utilizing to find our way to resolving all of Mom’s issues! More fun tomorrow since we exhausted the calling by running into the evening hours when they close.

Another issue that reared its ugly head was that while we had a short break form this difficult exhausting effort our across the canal neighbor rang our bell and delivered a flier from the memorial that had our demised neighbors picture on the front with his dates of born and death and a very inappropriate poem on the inside. Let me try to paraphrase it, since I ripped the thing to shreds in anger, but Hubby pieced it back to read it too oh ok, basically it said when we die we either go to heaven or hell and good people will go to heaven and the bad people go to hell with all of their friends, huh? (Author unknown; I don’t blame them for not wanting to take credit for that!) Before I read the ‘thing’, I did invite our neighbor in but oddly enough he said he had to go before I read it, odd and sub sequentially causing me to become extremely upset when I did read it!
So upset that I called them to express my feelings which were very acidy with anger at the ludicrous poem of insult to all who believe anything opposite.
Well, maybe the daughter of the man who died and actually did distribute it at the memorial thought it was light and funny, but I still believe as Hubby does that it was way over the top in inappropriateness.

There go some more acquaintances. I say that because they never did quite make it to friends, neighbors yes, friends no.

Tensions are high in this household, and aren’t looking good to change anywhere in the near future. And so reuniting a way to cope in our own little world is what we have to do.

On that decisive conclusion I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The boardwalk is complete!

Yes, in spite of visitors, doctor appointments, grocery shopping, tour guiding, entertaining etc., etc. the BOARDWALK is fini! I gave it a test drive today and it works well even with me in my mobility scooter could not crack or destroy the cedar fencing that was a gift from our neighbor before he left his home to turn it over to the bank.

The young fellow who unfortunately lost his home but gave us the fence before the bank took it over was thanking Hubby for helping him get his captain’s license and all the freebies Hubby did for him when he was learning to navigate the local waters. The most important one is docking the large fishing schooner that he had gotten the job to remove from the harbor, at about sixty-five feet long the ship was and Hubby took over the wheel for him to set in its permanent location on the islands. It became his business and career.

I had also given him my workbook for a while on Grant Writing, a CEU course I had, had as a volunteer, and so in his generosity he had given me an enormous conch shell as a gift too.
I do hope that he is doing well since he moved out of the county. For a while we would hear from him fairly regularly, but not lately, no news is good news, right?
He was a nice young man, younger than our sons, and that fence of his has gone a long way in its reuse around here! Besides the privacy fence on the empty lot side, the boardwalk of recent, it was responsible for Hubby making the wood valances in our sunroom, but I painted them! We even have my sign that I made that says relax, which oddly enough we try not to do! I suppose I do relax more than Hubby. But honestly I would prefer to be busy so I do comb the paper, magazines and listen well to the news to find out what is going on, plus watching those how-to shows to get additional ideas.

We found out that our elderly neighbor will be given a memorial tomorrow, ten days after he died, at the local Eagle’s building where he was a member. In lieu of flowers his family has requested a donation to them, which I mailed out today, not a lot but what we could afford since we are not wealthy, wish it could be more.

Hubby and I discussed going but decided not to, since we rarely do go to funerals, and it’s mostly people we don’t know going to this one, and too much food, and never knowing if it’s a happy go lucky remembering the good times in the dearly departed’s life or a boo hoo in the beer sort of thing.

Sadly, these things are more for the left behind family not as much to remember the family member who has just passed that has unfortunately been my experience. Don’t get me wrong the survivors do need bucking up at this time, but if the person who passed was older or even younger and suffering severely don’t they believe that the almighty had a hand in taking the pain away from that loved one’s misery?
Does that sound cold?
I just know that if I become the shell of myself, literally like this very wonderful gentleman did with failing kidneys, congestive heart failure several times in the last year and stroke to boot, even in my early eighties I would be ready to say goodbye!
Enough is enough, don’t you all think? How much can a body take?
What a difficult topic, death and illness, and this is a person who had insurance and had been hospitalized, not much they could do anymore I imagine and so to him I wish him a peaceful transition into whatever he believes in after life, enjoy the trip friend and neighbor you will sorely be missed…farewell!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Richness is a state of mind

As we enter a new debate on the healthcare reform bill for ‘the who knows’ how many times, it looks as if it will be signed this week since the votes were enough to pass it in the house.
Although now nine states’ attorney generals seem to feel it is unconstitutional and are proposing a law suit; we will see how that turns out… and aren’t there fifty states? (Are they going to use their own monies to file the suit or ours, the tax payers?)
I am confused, so I ask you America, and then why did just nine state’s attorneys find this horrendous injustice and no one else?
The lessons in government bureaucracy continue folks… the saga goes on…good luck PRES! I am on your side, which is really my own side since you seem to want to help me!

Another, confusion for me is that originally I thought that coverage for pre-existing disease adults wouldn’t kick in until 2014, but on the news just a short while ago they stated that it will be only a three months wait. Hope they are right, I could sure use it!
(Update: Apparently the report was not specific or accurate and it is the one for children that will go into effect in three months, adults will still be in 2014.)


Anywho, I just received an email from an older cousin, he’s in his late 70’s and who has raised 7 brilliant beautiful Ivey League college grads, and has a bushel of grandkids and a few greats to boot. Now he feels we are spending too much and the picture he sent was of a toddler female cutey with a pacifier in her mouth wearing a sign that says that she is already in over thirty thousand dollars in debt and all she owns is a doll house! Well, she should have mentioned it to Bush, I think; he got us into this mess! Mr. Obama inherited it too!
How soon we all forget!

Not having a plan in life is why so many are in debt plus living above their means.
Medical issues even with insurances have monetary caps, or am I the only one who knows that?
Why just the other day I heard of a person who needs a transplant for their child, and has insurance with a cap of eighty thousand dollars although the actually cost of the transplant is one million dollars! Now who in their right mind prepares for the likes of that, especially for a young child?
Come on America this Healthcare Reform Bill was a necessary necessity to stop the over billing and ridiculous cantankerous idiots who are putting good people into financial ruin only because they had the bad judgment to get sick! Good grief if we all knew that would happen we would have had better prevention care? Oh no, none of the insurance companies really believe in that, too expensive for all those tests and education!

Sorry, but it has gotten my juices flowing people, I am upset with people who will not leave well enough alone.
Sure the bill might need some tweaking but shouldn’t the grownups sit in a room together and discuss it civilized?

On that note of discontent I will wish you all a goodnight, at least try, and count your blessings and we will too!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Rewind...

Welcome to the second day of spring! I forgot to say something yesterday! Why shame on me for not remembering, but I was in no condition, if you recall, anywho my bad.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day…but you put out our FIRE DANGER… so I guess you should stay a while longer to be sure, but not too!

Our rain gage says we received only one point two inches but our pool belies that.

We had a very moist day today it was the type of day one might think of as a reading, napping, baking (although no longer in our house),soup making, sort of day.

The rain cooled us to a brisk sixty-nine degrees at this just before six P.M. hour, brrr oh my!

Perhaps my regression into depression yesterday was foretelling of the gloom that would be our today’s damp atmosphere, as we all know our bones tell no lies when we get the creaks from our old ones…Why that is where the word decrepit came from folks! And dark skies make one’s sadness emanate; both are known physiological changes that we have very little control over.

Atmospherically it is the barometric pressure that really causes our body changes, so I was told by a legit rheumatologist once. The lower it goes the more we react negatively.

I suppose you could call this day another rest on your laurels day of nothing needing to be done or cared for. That’s not entirely true, I did dust and do some laundry, our bedding to be exact but those mundane tasks hardly count for anything in the larger picture of things.

I did have another short email message return message conversation with another young newsy from our local affiliate NBC station in Fort Myers, who I asked about the new people I saw last night on the TV doing the weather and sports, since I thought they looked familiar but I couldn’t place them. It was something interesting to do, talking to people in the business I worked only in the periphery of years ago while in the promotion field. Not the same old same old, I suppose that could be part of my problem…I am in a rut and haven’t seemed to be able to figure how to get out?
Any suggestions would be more than welcomed?
Nah, I never seem to hear from any of you, but I can dream can’t I?

Rut is an interesting term or word let’s take a closer look at the true meaning of it, a usual or fixed practice especially, a monotonous routine, a furrow in the ground, a track worn by a wheel, now that explains a lot!
But we all knew that!
I bet you didn’t know this definition…it also means an annually recurrent state of sexual excitement in the male deer, broadly sexual excitement in a mammal especially when periodic…whoa!
I don’t think that explains my rut! YEP I know it doesn’t, no sir no ma’am, no how…
Mine is the very first one’s definition LOL for sure.
Who would have thunk it?
I suppose finding new things that interests one’s self is a beginning…words and their genesis I have always found fascinating.

On that positive note I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS It looks as if the health reform bill will pass tonight!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Frustration is mounting...

Feelings are going so strange…
Tonight I suppose you can say I am having the blues.
My heart aches.
Desire to be me again is faltering.
I do know my limitations, and they are many.
And on goes my hearts desires thinking of when in my past that was so colorful and rich with things to do and friends to do them with; I so long for the yesterdays.

So many of my regrets of my mistakes of choosing friends has happened too many times in my history; ones that weren’t true as they should be to be considered friends; for where are they now? Run for the hills comes to mind; she needs you now!

Any relationship is comprised of give and take, but now I am unable to give wholeheartedly or even physically and that is why I have been tossed aside on the periphery of the remainder of my life by many and sadly I mourn for what was.
Uselessness is truly unrelenting and causes great emotional pain.
I know I can do so much more than scores of other people but I still know it is not enough.
Funny, my possessions are more than enough, but I am not.

Dancing with my imagery of what was saddens one’s soul to the nth degree.
We can never ever return to what was and that truth can be devastating to anyone who had hoped to.

I have been back to myself so many limitless times in my own true past it would amaze you…truly myself included in that amazement, since it is factual.

We as a family have been down to the bottom of the barrel in misery but have managed to pull ourselves up and return to some semblance of normalcy with health and wealth included in that comeback.
But it appears to be no more for me that is…
I am out of my cat-like lives.
What you see now is what you get.
Clichés be damned give me one more chance to be me, the slim trim healthy and happy one who helped others without fear or pain!
This me is not the one I so desire; what shall I do?

I so want to change back…

On this weird note of uncertainty I will bid you all a good night and ask you to count your blessings and I will begin again to look for mine…

PS Again my sleeplessness has come back, perhaps that explains this ranting of mine, so sorry folks!

PSS I did receive a reply to the question about meteorologists vs. weather people last night and yes it definitely does have to do with degrees!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Normalcy, huh, what's that?

We began to detox today from the roller coaster ride caused by the endless Mom Saga.
It was almost a Mom free day. One email arrived from her neighbor giving us a positive update, ok we will take that.
The day appeared normal in just about everyway.
I did start a couple loads of laundry before Hubby awoke.
On the second load I was able to use that new gizmo that is for us in the getting on in age crowd who forget to put the dryer softener sheets in with our laundry. Its the brand new idea of the two month stick to the bottom of the dryer system to soften those things that need that sort of thing, got that?
Halfway through my towels’ drying it dislodged and started to sound like I put a small truck in the dryer, and so I stopped the machine to try and figure it out, why it happened and had not a clue so I threw it back in and figured it would still work just as well.
Hubby came back in from outside and heard the racket and asked what was up, and I told him that I fetched the box out of the garbage and that I will have to call the manufacturer since there was a problem with their product and it didn’t seem to work quite right.
Hubby checked for himself and found that the holder was still affixed to the dryer, all that had happened is that log system came out…oh my, how silly of me!
To be fair it was my first time using the product, so OK? LOL

Moving on… Hubby went back to work on the boardwalk again this morning and he’s getting closer to completion.
I sat again outside to watch and tend to my houseplants that now live out
there. You see, they were not doing so well in our low humidity inside our home, and here it is OK for them to be outside since it is very doubtful that our weather will be too cold for them or us or even any living thing for the rest of the season, TA DA!
In fact this weekend portends to be in the mid-eighties where it should be!

Hubby and I are both interested in a comment that we both heard on the local TV news; and I will be writing a note or email to my face book friends that most of them are from our station down in Fort Myers. We both would like to know why some of their weather people call themselves meteorologist, and some call themselves weather people?
When I get an answer I will let you know…logically I would think some have degrees in the field of meteorology and some are journalist that report about the weather, well we shall see. And this is what I wrote:

“Why do some who give the weather reports say that they are meteorologists and some just say they are weather people? Is it just a matter of degrees? And please forgive the pun.”

On that provocative note I will say good night and suggest for you to count your blessings and we will too!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Confusion is rampant...

Craziness is not what I like to think about in life, but to be honest I think as a family unit we have been teetering extremely close to going over that edge!


Hubby’s Mom did arrive home safe but not so sound…She began crying as soon as her ‘neighbor’ picked her up at the airport! Apparently, according to the late night call Hubby received from ‘him’, we were too persuasive in getting her to make a decision about coming down here, and she didn’t want to be pushed so hard into doing that? Huh? She’s the one who chose which place she liked as the apartment, as well as writing out the check and being told that it would be ready as soon as April first! If she did not take this particular unit that she liked due to its great closet space and being on the ground floor it would probably be gone.


Consequently, after her ‘neighbor’s’ call Hubby and I were unable to sleep trying to figure out why she did that?
We are not the enemy and this is NOT what her daughter wanted for her, because that was to put her away, and literarily throw away the key and steal all her money in that process…what we want for her is for her to spend her own money on herself and live in an independent living situation with safety nets, and that they will entertain her, feed her three meals a day in a lovely dinning room with others her own age, housekeeping comes into her one bedroom apartment one day a week. She will have an emergency button to push in her home for assistance if needed, transportation to stores and outside activities, medical staff in the ready for any problems, a beauty salon, bingo etc.! As I said before I want to go there when I grow up!
Hubby sent her up to the north with a short to-do list.
Apparently, she thought it was too overwhelming to do and she freaked out!
Or so we were told.
But Hubby called her tonight and you know what?
The first thing she told him is that she can’t live by herself because she can’t remember anything…Hallelujah!
And she said that she was ready to do what she made plans for, but that is paraphrased since I didn’t actually speak to her and I am basically saying what Hubby told me.

Now the neighbor wants to help her physically move here, but that seems to me a wee bit too helpful?
Bet he’s finally getting tired of all of us trying to figure this dilemma out and seemingly hitting brick walls, with her indecisiveness, which by the way is nothing new. That problem was well established when she was a much younger woman, even some of these other issues of her finding someone to take her here and there and them paying for everything and not expecting to be reimbursed by her. Sorry Mom but that is the nicest way I can think of saying it without outright calling it what it is…sponging!

This gentleman giant, he is six foot six, neighbor of hers seems to be unperturbed by what she is doing but it still isn’t right if you know what I mean, and it is somewhat embarrassing and awkward to hear that he is constantly taking her out to eat and driving her here and there for this and that. In other words he is enabling her ability to take advantage, very nice of him, but hard to fathom, with us being all the way down here nearly 1500 plus miles away from her and frustrating too.
Anywho, after Hubby spoke with her tonight it appears to all be resolved once again, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Mom has arrived back where she started her journey!

Now, for all of you wondering where that was… it is in the northeast or as we of the Sunbelt like to say…COLD COUNTRY!

Her return trip was uneventful and quicker than her original one to the south, perhaps the Gulf Stream had something to do with it? Giving the plane a bit of a push from the rear, but who really knows she is temporarily back where she was.

The plan is for her to move down with in the month, and I truly wish her and Hubby the best of luck in making that happen, do we all believe it’s possible?
Clap your hands if you do, or no, that’s for fairies, that is if you believe in them, hearty
har, har… so they say, harrumph, hee, hee, hee…

So sorry, but we all have a history together that does not allow for things to work out exactly as we all hoped they would, and unfortunately promises have been broken before.
Bummer babe tonight, or is it called being realistic?

To be fair she paid her ticket and if she doesn’t come down she will loose a few thou, but in the past a threat of that possibility was just enough to get the woman moving in the right direction.
Why I can remember after hospitalization for colon cancer way back in 1986, she had prior to it made a deposit on a cruise, and she made sure that she was able to get out in time to go on that cruise after five weeks of hospitalization for fear of loosing her deposit, which was considerably less than her most recent one for her new home! She even had enough time to make it to my Dad’s funeral then before the cruise left, what a woman when motivated, eh?

And so I will let it be for now, after all it is not for me to decide any of it or about anything about it; whatever that means. Its times like these that my jealousy factor of people having their parents around to complain about is not anymore going to be a problem for me. You see since mine both died when I was younger, in my 31st year for my Mom, and 35th for my Dad, when my friends would complain about their growing older parents doing this or that I would lament: “at least they are here!” For now I am of the belief that it was a godsend that my parents had the forethought to pass away when I was young enough to handle it, and not allowed to complain at this current age I am today as so many of my contemporaries do today about this or that. It is true I have had friends with horror stories of parent’s with Alzheimer’s, but one that has complained about her Mom of nearly 106 years old, and she wonders why the woman is still alive, although she ran out of money trying to take care of her, and now the woman is a ward of the state?

I suppose there is no winning with any of this… horribly ‘Solent Green’ comes to mind, you know the one… that Charleston Heston flick with them turning the elderly into a food source?(Speaking of Solent GREEN, Happy St. Patty’s Day; I do know that it has nothing to do with the holiday today but it had GREEN in its title so it did remind me, get it? That's because of my weird sense of humor, sorry, really sorry!)
Just kidding folks! Not my solution, by any means.
But unless you age gracefully, slenderly and healthy with no emotional or mental issues, no one does though as we all know, you may as well take the quick way out? NAH!
This growing old thing has got to stop.
I do know that medicine has come quite far on the matter.
You know that you can order a tuck here a pull there a tie it up there, but as far as the brain goes, contrary to the latest medications none came completely close enough to make you anywhere as sharp as a tack, as we used to say!

Fantasyland in the aging wars, illness is not the only battle in life.
But if you are old AND sick... then you better watch out world nobody wants to handle that!
Too hard!
But we all must, since we are our brother’s keeper, sister’s keeper, Mother’s keepers, Fathers keepers, and on and on and on… and on we go, and so peeps we must find the CURE for old age and all the ills of the world too!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Many have tried but not many have succeeded...

What you ask?
Survived a rear end collision in a grocery store, but of course!
Intriguing you yet?
Well, perhaps I need to explain?
This morning brilliant fun woman here thought wouldn’t it be great to have corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight, since Mom will be leaving tomorrow, and yes tomorrow is St. Patty’s Day, and no, none of us are Irish.
Let’s go I said and sure enough everyone was game for the outing.
And so of course we all went.
My idea also was for Hubby’s Mom to try out the free scooter the grocery supplied to see how she liked it and managed it, a large area enclosed no car traffic, not such a crazy idea, or was it?
Mom was content to do her usual holding onto the shopping cart, but no…I was insistent that she try her hand at maneuverability of their scooters, insistent in fact I would say that I was down right persistent! Ooops, my bad, big time!
We lined up like a train with Hubby in the front, Mom on the borrowed one in the middle and me on my own at the caboose bringing up the rear… not too shabby an idea and she seemed to be enjoying the silliness of it all.

The first hazard was hit down the mouthwash isles sharp curved exit lane Mom bumped the edge of the end cap with a not too bad one, and I yelled reverse and she did!
She made a wide turn and proceeded to take an outside lane that threw our procession into disorder. Then it was only a short drive to the cash registers which we took the non working ones to get in front of the one Hubby was checking out of, well I stopped before his exit lane but by now Mom was behind me and…SHE DID NOT!!!! She thumped into me not once but thrice and in the process removed the little basket on the checkout of the one next to Hubby’s that holds the plastic bags for the bagger where they ask paper or plastic! She was crazed and could not stop; back and forth she went hitting the empty lane and me too in the process! Finally I yelled GET OFF! Because telling her to let go of the hand release was not working, it was a mess, and all my stupid idea! She got me thrice in the left shoulder blade, and I thought I was definitely a goner, for sure.
Another one of those times that I should have listened to the person’s insistence that they didn’t want to do it because they were afraid they would bump into things…how providential of her, eh and wrong of me?
I turned after she hopped off of the bucking bronco scooter of hers and said in low tones almost inaudible, so glad you don’t drive a car anymore!
And guess what Mom I think a scooter would be a bad idea, you should ask the doctor to write a prescription for a walker with a seat, so much safer for you and the world at large!

The pain lasted for hours, I did rest and take aspirin with my stomach medicine, wow what a combo, but it’s what I had to do.

Excitement is all but a memory, and hopefully this pain will diminish more tomorrow or maybe be worse? Who knows…?

Good night to all and to all count your blessings and we will too!

PS Dinner turned out great and was delish!

Monday, March 15, 2010

The sweet smell of 'Success!'

Signed sealed and almost delivered!
Mom has made the decision to change her life for the better, yea!
We are so happy for her.

The day was racked with anticipation and hopefulness, Hubby and his Mom went out to take care of the preliminaries minus me, by my request. I was physically and emotionally exhausted and besides, I’m only a daughter-in-law not a daughter and so that should at the very least be a Mom and son thing without interference from an interloper, have it be a long time only related by-marriage one that is 39 years worth, but a non-blood relative just the same.

It was my excuse to take a break from the weariness it all exerted, and by the time they returned I had been renewed enough to participate in the finale of the signing of the lease!
We celebrated up front by going to a Chinese buffet for lunch that we all enjoyed.

Then on to the new home of Mom’s to sign on for her new adventure!
From there I scootered across to the shopping area where the outlet store is, and where she got her haircut, and indoor pool facility, etc. etc. etc. Mom’s got it made in the shade as they say, and what a gorgeous day! But Hubby drove Mom by gas transport and guess what… I beat them there! How about that?
We were there for a purpose to exchange my blouse that didn’t fit, and I did get another that should, actually haven’t tried it on yet but it is the same manufacturer as the other two I got last week and the same size too. Mom wanted to get a gift for her neighbor and she couldn’t find one there but there were more stores in that realm of the shopping promenade an international type that she found him the perfect gift, I won’t reveal it in case he is reading this…

The evening was a catcher ketch can snacking type meal plan thing since both breakfast and lunch were living large and quite filling, and so this and that sufficed for this last meal of the day.

On those informative words I will bid you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

QUIET! Hush you!

Did you hear what I said?
Lower your voices please.
Today we made it our quiet day.
Mom woke up fairly late at 9:30 A.M., me too just after the new time of eight o’clock, but you do know that last night was Daylight Savings Time, and we sprung ahead an hour?

Hubby took her over to church just before eleven A.M. when her mass was.
And we went into our cleaning mode at his return.
Laundry was done, but only two loads, vacuuming and dusting too.
A quickie fix up.

Tomorrow is the day my Hubby is taking his Mom to get herself well into the process of making the BIG MOVE HERE, to the bank then to the independent living facility to sign on the dotted line!
We think, or hope (it better be, this is too exhausting) for her sake she does anyway…
Lately her facial expressions have left us unsure of what exactly she will do when down to the wire and the final absolute decision will have to be made.
But knowing her she most definitely will try to fight it.
All Hubby has to do is confront each and every one of her worries or arguments with logical solutions, I wish him luck…
Since this is the part of the whole project that I feel he should take upon himself to do without my interference; after all she is his Mom!
I know he can do it; he is her son, which makes him stubborn too!
Hopefully a wee bit more stubborn than her.
This may become a Mexican Stand Off though, and I don’t think I am up for watching any of that.

The weather has become what we famously have been known to brag on, sunny and dry with a balmy breeze to titillate the senses, this is the Florida I know and love, welcome back dear old friend!

On that pleasant note I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

This is going to be a shorty because it is late and I am...

Do you want to know what I am?
Well, I am tired.
Why am I tired you ask?
I will tell you why I am so tired…Because it was an up and down busy happy, fun and rather sad day.

Our number one son arrived before the noontime he said, which was great!
And after a little of this and that and introducing us to this mysterious woman of his that he has been dating for over a year, and the usual tour of the compound we moved on to our days plans; the Seafood Festival!

And we went in separate vehicles since ours is not enormous we have so many walking tools in it, and so number one and his gal pal took their own transport.

We got lucky and after we went through a detour we found a handicap spot fairly pronto.
The idea was to wait for them to meet us where we arrived, and they did at the public bathroom for me, no toilet paper in the handicap one but I had tissues, wow, can you imagine? Not nice at all.
Then our across the canal neighbor called us while we were at the festival to let us know that our extremely ill neighbor had passed away last night, how truly sad.

Anywho, the next dilemma was the terrain that had been well rained on and left gullies of unearthed mudden patches that had my scooter spitting up splashes all over the place even at slow speeds, and I was cursed at by many people there. But I feel the parks commission was at fault for not taking care of this always problem long before I got my scooter!

We ate and looked around and came home, basically that was it. We had homemade fruit salad, and snacks between meals and ordered pizza to dine on for dinner.
Pleasant conversation ensued and it was wonderful to see our son that we hadn’t seen in four whole months! His girlfriend was warm and friendly and very intelligent.
And they left just a short while ago to go the two hours home.

Mom and Hubby are waiting for me to finish this so we can watch a short movie tonight, 89 minutes for the PG movie called, Shorts, since after all it is movie night peeps!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS I guess this wasn’t that short after all was said and done.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Another showing another liking...

As luck would have it the rain decided to come today, our going out day!
But although we did what we planned the wetness did not put a damper on Mom's feelings about this project of ours...

Mom seems to like this one (the Royal Palm) better than the one we took her to Wednesday.
It is very similar to the other independent living place but has alternative living situations just in case.
Yep, in case Mom goes to the hospital for some unknown ills or forgets more than she already does they have an arrangement for that, living arrangement that is, assisted living that would be. That lifestyle change is only across the hallways to the other apartment towers, and on minimal notice you can be moved there if so needed, and moved back to independent if you so wish to have that once again, musical lifestyles, wow what a concept!
Of course for that ability the cost of this place is a bit more expensive, about eight hundred more a month, but as we have said before Mom has the financial power for either.
And so we are hoping against hope that she will be able to make that final one that is decision, before flying home next week… we will see… Hubby feels certain it is a done deal.

Our eldest, number one son, that we initially said would be visiting us yesterday had called prior to that to inform us that Wednesday night he would be working very late and so he postponed until this weekend, and he called a little while a go to tell us he would be down tomorrow with his girlfriend that we still haven’t met, but happily now will!

What most likely will happen we will have some ideas of what to do, there is a Seafood Festival at the waterfront park and we will probably go there for what they have to offer?
Who knows for sure, we are open to anything.

That’s what I like about this age in life… we are flexible, not in our bodies of course since that is no longer bendable at all! But for our mind’s sake we are more unbiased than ever about how to spend our days especially our weekends that are actually endless and day less, since we are that ‘R’ word, RETIRED, and the week and weekends are basically all the same to us!

How extraordinary it seems to me that we have this time of our lives to do what we want whenever we care to or want to do anything, did I just speak in forked tongue or was that circles; like in the circles of life…ho, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, eh?

On that odd note… good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

RELAX!

Each day doesn’t have to be hustle and bustle, does it?
Today we decided to just take it slow and relax…
And why not I say, after all we are a small group of three slower movers, which would cause any one of us to consider being called, dare I say… the “R” word, RETIRED people! But of course whatever did you think I was going to say? Oh you thought I was going to use that nasty one that Sarah Palin has nixed as not Politically Correct for describing youngsters with neurological chromosomal birth defects such as her own adorable youngest offspring. No, of course not, I would never say the word RETARDED in that context, but for describing myself it is accurate, since I am getting slower daily, because of my own neurological non birth defect called “MS”, Multiple Sclerosis, yep just nickname me that, “R”!

And I had another weird experience today where a book that I enjoy to look at for telling what type of birds are in the yard as well as other creatures, since that is what we were doing most of the day, just sitting and watching those little avian critters, eat our seed put out especially for them, bathe in the birdbath nearby it or flutter off to the pond fountain to drink and play within that shower. That book of nature felt like it weighed ten pounds! I haven’t had that odd a thing happen to me since around 1997, if I recall, when I thought the Mall locked their doors and me in, scary! An elderly gentleman tried the doors and opened them so easily I was visibly embarrassed, but thanked him. Till this day I have no idea why that happened and why today I experienced a similar affect.

We ate well at home, Hubby and I made homemade soup that we all enjoyed he and his Mom had soup and sandwiches and I soup and salad. I had made eggs for breakfast, and chops were barbequed for dinner with baked potatoes with cauliflower and broccoli and fruit bowls of pineapples and strawberries, mmmmmm so good!

On that mouth watering thought I will wish you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The tour ensued...

Today we had many stops to accomplish to give Mom the tour of our city, but not really a city since we are not incorporated, whatever that means. We do have a name to our tiny little hamlet, and its Port Charlotte, but yet in all the fifteen years that we have been living on this coast of the state, the west side or left coast as the locals say, I have never ever found the port of Charlotte?
Oh well, such is Florida and its quirky ways that we have somewhat adapted to and have not affected our way of doing things one iota.

Ah… you wish to know where we went on the grand tour, and if you are good and quiet I may tell you…first Mom and we, Hubby and me that is, all got ready to go out by dressing for the occasion.
And Mom found fault with her hair and felt the need to cut her coif.
So back to my hair stylists of the reasonable kind, and Mom got the clip she requested after changing her mind only once!

Then on to the independent living facility that I want to move to when I need to get a life!
All your needs are answered there from health, entertaining, exercise workout room, physical therapy, meals, which they gave us a sampling of, lunch that is, heated swimming pool, Bingo, did I mention Bingo, of course I did twice! Mom loves Bingo, dancing, maid service, doctors, bus and limo service, emergency service, fire sprinkler systems for each and every room, etc., and to top it all off a large quantity of contemporaries in the octo set that is octogenarian’s folks for the youngins.

And after that visit we asked Mom if she liked it and of course she did, but then started making those typical Mom excuses about all her stuff and all… but we waylaid those excuses with giving her logical reasons of why not to worry like putting her things in storage and then shipping them down here, she has the funds to make the move without the sale of her condo and doesn’t have to worry as much as she keeps thinking she does. We will be going to one more place of the similar concept but much more expensive without half of the extras this one includes and so we are really trying to encourage her to make a decision, but that’s part of her many problems. Plus she tried using a credit card that she forgot the account that was closed due to her daughter at the hair salon, but then found another that worked. When we got home Hubby cut it up so she wouldn’t try it again. And then I solved her other credit bill problem to try and find out what was charged and why the bill was over due, of course she forgot to pay it and had late charges and finance charges! We need her down here pronto; she is not doing well on her own. She has enough money but forgets to pay things and for monthly regular things it is directly taken out of her bank account but apparently this, the credit card confusion is all stemming from the backlash still from her daughter’s reign of terror of stealing her monies and trying to commit her!

After the independent living facility we went on to the Cultural Center for that round about, and a refresher her memory course for she had been there many a time in the past, but it was all new to her sadly or maybe not, I suppose it is all in the way you look at things, eh?

On that curious observation I will bid you all a good night and ask you to count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Mom arrived safe and sound!

We left earlier than we originally planned to since according to the online info for her flight it said that they had apparently picked up a tail wind, and would be arriving forty minutes early!

Funny though, as it turned out when we arrived at the airport that was changed back to the original time, eh?

And so we were quite early, but that was good in a way since when we tried finding the short term parking it wasn’t listed on any of the signs and so we found out how a round about goes, and around and around we went, until we finally asked an airport employee where we should go. (You know how it is ladies men never want to act like they don’t know where they are going, although I kept pointing that he was going the wrong way! All I know is that when Hubby kept insisting on following the sign that said where to return the car rentals this way, he wouldn’t listen to me that it was NOT the right way to go so we went around three times!)
At the airport our eldest finally called back and said he will be visiting us on Thursday, hooray!

And then we had to go up to the second level for parking and park outside not under the floors inside or in any available handicap spots, since there weren’t any.
That’s another thing… one thing I hate almost as much as a healthy person parking in a handicap spot is one that uses the handicap bathroom, and that happened to me today too!
Boy, some people…but I guess she really had to go.
Maybe she had an invisible disability that I missed…who knows…oh well…

Anywho, we took Mom to a nice chain restaurant for lunch, Uno Chicago Grill: copy and paste to find a location near you: http://www.unos.com/ not far from the airport nearby a few nice hotels. The food was reasonably priced and very good, we all could have won the clean plate award since not a bite was left for even a doggy bag!

Unfortunately, I75 had an accident on it on the way home and so the return trip took a wee bit longer than it should have; not a great welcome to Florida but what can you do?

Mom appears happy with her accommodations and when we came home after I took her on a short renewal tour of the compound we sat and chatted outside in the backyard and watched the birds.

We had several emails when we returned and one was from Mom’s eldest son asking when Mom would be arriving, he thought it was today but wasn’t sure, and so Mom will be calling him later. He’s the one in Washington State.

Well, that was all she wrote tonight folks and have a good one, in other words good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS Today would have been my parents 69th Wedding Anniversary!

Monday, March 8, 2010

We have been busy in preparation...

For Hubby’s Mom’s arrival, she will be here tomorrow, and hopefully we will be able to have her enjoy her stay so much that she doesn’t want to leave!

Our eldest offspring has been notified and originally said he would clear his busy schedule to spend some time with all of us when she is here, he lives a few hours away.

But yesterday he tried calling me while we were in the big warehouse store, and our phone was full of static, which doesn’t ordinarily happen unless the metal structure of the building was interfering on both of our phones, ours is quite old, but his is brand new, so probably not his.

I thought perhaps he would call back, and he still might but he was on his way to work at the time, and yes he does work Sundays, but is off at the end of the week for three days at a time, since he works four ten hour shifts.

We have been mostly buying things to eat, and so we often go to the big box store for coffee, water, paper goods, fish and the like.

And we also had a few more items for Hubby to get from the home store, more garden ties, since he has a plan to make a diamond pattern around our Tangelo tree, someday maybe it will be big enough for a bench too!
This morning we went to my favorite outlet store to pick up a couple more blouses for me to go with slacks and dresses I already have, and today is the 15% off day for the fifty and over crowd. All but one fit. Also to find some large discounted frames, which we did, we found 8X10’s, two of them for about four dollars each, not too bad. I painted them, they were stained wood but now they are sort of Shabby Chic in bluish greenish antique tones from my acrylic paint collection. I have painted many frames before; it’s so much fun, and one of the easier and cheaper forms of arts and crafts and a way to change decorating spaces. The pictures in them are vintage Victorian looking, one was sent to me by email, and has a funny saying ( a bunch of homely women expressing their feelings during prohibition, but it couldn’t be since their dress is bustles and long dresses right out of the 1890’s I believe, and it says, “ Lips that touch liquor shall not touch ours” But honestly they are all too ugly( I don’t think they could have ever existed in reality) for words, and no one would really want to) and the other is just a vintage pompadour haired woman, both are in plain black and white, and are now all are hanging in my vintage style bathroom, looking great!

Next stop was to the grocery for things like cereal and fruit, way too big quantities at the warehouse store yesterday! One thing that was interesting the coffee was on sale and actually was twenty cents cheaper than what we paid at the big box store, and so we bought one more, in our house coffee does not last long!

And Mom’s room is all aired out and clean and the bed is made with clean sheets too, and fresh towels are handy, drawers are emptied and extra hangers available, even my collection of small sample products are in her last drawer for her to access in case she forgot anything, oh yeah, even writing cards with stamps are on her dresser! The trunk has been turned into a suitcase holder, did I forget anything I sure hope not. Tomorrow I will see if I will be putting fresh flowers in her room or leave them in the garden for her to admire…

On that note of decisive thinking I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Smile it fools the brain!

Now, isn’t that lovely?
Have you ever talked yourself into or out of the doldrums?
Or have you ever verged on possible momentary depression?
Perhaps you would like to maintain that you have only had cabin fever or a bad day…
But if you are an honest human being you have suffered at one time or another of some form of any of the above euphemisms.

And I am here to tell you what to do the next time you are feeling those blues, and need a bit of cheeriness to chase that mood away… Well folks it’s as simple as this… ‘Smile it fools the brain!’ Besides it is contagious.
Haven’t you ever noticed?
I contend that you should try it, and be amazed at the results it will bring not only to you but to everyone you share it with!
Too simple you say.
Well, in life the best things in life are just that…simple.
Think of sunsets, sunrises, beautiful flowers, birds singing, butterflies winging, you name it its free and sure to make you smile!

MJ, Michael Jackson my friends knew the meaning of that song written by Charlie Chaplin for his movie Modern Times circa 1936 that song named ‘Smile’.

Smile Lyrics
Theme Music for Modern Times
(Music by Charles "Charlie" Chaplin -- Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons)
“Smile tho' your heart is aching,
Smile even tho' it's breaking,
When there are clouds in the sky
You'll get by,
If you smile
thro' your fear and sorrow,
Smile and maybe tomorrow,
You'll see the sun come shin-ing thro' for you
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide ev-'ry trace of sadness,
Al -'tho a tear may be ever so near,
That's the time,
You must keep on trying,
Smile, what's the use of crying,
You'll find that life is still worth-while,
If you just smile...”
I dare you to get this out of your head!
Keep on smiling world things will get better they can’t get any worse, buh duh dum!
Those were the bad days of the depression.
Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same, and sometimes even the cure is the same too…timeless!

Take care peeps and remember what Tobi says about smiling and you will get through anything, believe me!

Good night to all and to all count hose blessings and we will too!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

The weather was just perfect today and the work continued...

No one can complain about today’s weather it was picture perfect.
Temps did rise above the high sixties into the mid-seventies just like what was predicted!

The work continued on the boardwalk also, and I was a happy sidewalk supervisor but I did it all from the comfort of our patio, and on one of our comfortable webbed chairs that meet your body where they need to; you know the kind, eh?

This is the life, gorgeous weather entertainment by the yard; make that in the yard, LOL!

Tonight is movie night here in our homeland video room, translation: living-room, the choice is 2012, a two and half hour plus marathon, that big time disaster flick. It was hyped quite a bit when it first came out into the theaters, and those trailers were really something, weren’t they? You know, that always makes me a teeny weenie bit skeptical, about the film’s quality.
Did you know that most movies in the theater go to DVD within seventeen weeks but for some it’s only about fourteen?
The theaters could use your bucks so don’t stop going by any means, you could make the economy that much worse folks, or start waiting for the DVD homeland theaters, but isn’t that interesting; I thought so, and so I wanted you all to know too.

The reason we stopped going to the theaters was not for any of the reasons you might think… oh sure the prices went up, but didn’t everything?
No, I could not sit for very long due to back problems, and I would have to get up frequently or stiffen up, and lavatory breaks too…oh well, and now its so much more non annoying for others that we wait to see those cinematic gems at home on our own pausing machine or even to play something over we may have missed seeing or not heard correctly, what have you? As you get on in age you too may agree that is the way to go, or not to go, just stay in.

I made my famous white clam sauce and angel hair pasta for dinner tonight, Hubby calls it Chinese food since we all do know the history of pasta actually coming from China, and with this meal we are usually hungry again a few hours later, why is that I wonder?

Any-who on that silly note I will bid you all a good night and to all count your blessings and we will too!

Friday, March 5, 2010

We have been told we are in for... a very nice weekend, and week too!

Let’s say it’s about time on our home front that, that should have happened.
This is Florida after all, and nice weather is what we are all about, eh?
Gosh, we are nicknamed, ‘The Sunshine State’, for a reason!

They, the meteorologists that is, are saying we should be almost back to our normal temperatures for this time of the year, you don’t know what our normal temps are?
Well, let me tell you, they are fifties during the night and mid-seventies in the day time hours, degrees that is.

But last night we had mid-forties and today it rose to the high sixties.
Marginally colder but we as Floridians know the difference, and we want our norms back big time!

Why six months after moving here, nearly twenty-four years ago, my blood diminished in thickness I do believe to the point where when the thermometer slid to sixty degrees, it was a reason to get out the woolies! But unfortunately we gave them away when we moved here! LOL I really hate the possibility of getting assimilated to these colder temperatures with then feeling that eighty could be hot instead of just warm enough!

Blood thins I do believe, but I have no biological proof or a way to know for sure, and if it even could be realistically a truism.

Anywho, our resistance to colder temperatures did go the way of our overcoats, and we much prefer lighter weight clothing items to garnish our bodies with.
Not so much for me these days, lesser clothing, but so long as no one can see me I will put my bathing suit on to go into our swimming pool, which is only right, eh, and proper attire for the job?
That’s another thing until that water temperature goes up to eighty-five in our pool no toes are going in!

The Gulf of Mexico is still; would you believe in the fifties?
The only good that could come from all of this chilliness is that El Nino will prevent our hurricane season from producing too many nasty storm threats, since cold Gulf water temperatures prevent hurricanes from forming. It’s the warm water that creates the appropriate climate for such horrendous things!
And so you can only imagine that we are hoping for our cold Gulf of Mexico water temperatures to continue so we maintain this five year trend of no direct hits of hurricanes, thank you very much.

We are already plunging into the fifties for this evening, but there is nothing I personally can do about it, except wait it out, and personally I have got all the time in the world!

So on that oblique note of compromise I will bid you all a very good night and remind you to count those blessings and we will too!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The boardwalk was begun; an old acquaintance has passed away...

Sadly, I found out that a woman who I knew through the Arthritis Foundation has passed away, a truly lovely person who became our Acquacize coordinator as well as a statuesque model for our fund raising fashion shows that I would put together. She was a beautiful woman who had never modeled before I asked her to, which was quite a surprise to me, since she was a natural. She was a retired nutritionist and was originally from New York, her nephew had been killed on 911 since he worked in one of the towers in a financial office in that profession. How she loved her family and many of them had moved down to Florida with her too. She passed away on January 12th suddenly at the age of seventy-two, and the person who wrote about it was told that is all they knew. I found out from the newsletter that I received today from a national organization I belong to called H2u but our chapter does everything on a local level. Good-bye dear good sweet A, you will be sorely missed.

Hubby started on the boardwalk today, eight foot garden ties, a dozen in all that will be tying the whole project together were around four bucks a piece. You see Hubby will be using the left over cedar fencing again for the cross decking and the reason for such a construction of this monumental passageway… so I can roll around the back yard, but of course! You see my walker or scooter according to the texture of the under ground soft or mushy low or high created an uneven terrain for me to maneuver the territory. This boardwalk will hopefully allow for me to go down to the dock without difficulty, and enjoy things I once had before like fishing perhaps, glaring at Otto the otter, dolphin, manatees, stingrays or mantas, or watching the sunset or whatever else I am so inclined to do. Won’t that be lovely? It has been well over a year since I could do any of that!

My new do has proven to be not difficult to manage it is basically a wash and dry type of cute cut!

I forgot to mention that yesterday on our errands I had one silly thing stuck in my mind that I wanted to free up my utensil drawer of clutter, and I thought the perfect way to do that is to take my stylishly useful stainless utensils that I had acquired over the years to put them perhaps in a flamboyantly colorful ceramic vase in the center of the stove.
And so as we went on our journey for necessities yesterday I would look for this somewhat obscure idea of mine. After traveling to approximately three shops that day I took one last look in the garden department of the home store where they did have quite a few not boring ceramic pots, but none were the right size or shape for what I felt was what I needed. Until I saw a brilliantly multi-colored one being sold for an indoor herb garden, but just below it in the same display was more in the color tones I was thinking of, but this one was for growing strawberries; it came with soil and seeds in a plastic bag within it, great I thought! Hubby can have the seeds and I could have the pot, a two-for!
So I easily removed the bag of soil and packet of seeds and scrubbed the pot in warm soapy water, dried it and enthusiastically installed my collection of stainless tools, which I put right in the middle of the stove! It looked just awful, too cluttered, and so guess what? I found the directions on planting the seeds in the pot and it now sits, planted with strawberries on my open bar to the kitchen, and doesn’t look half bad if I do say so myself!

I learned something folks, which is that, on occasion, what we dream or see in our heads, cannot always be realized and perhaps shouldn’t be.

On that educational note for me I will bid you all a pleasant good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Shear entertainment, and more...

Yes, that’s what I said, but what could I possibly mean you ask?
But of course, hair cuts today all around!
That’s what I meant, actually Hubby went for his shearing a few days ago, but Skipper and I went today for ours…and he looks just marvelous folks as always.
He hadn’t been this styled out since December, since we have cut-back, get the pun; on how often he goes due to financial cost effectiveness, of cost we did…dud, dah, dum..
In my case though it had been much, much longer and my mopped head showed that caring for it was way too shabby in intent, and lacked concern or interest at all.
Today was errands day and so we went to one of our favorite healthy food places, and the woman across from us had a really cute hair-do, and I asked if it was called, like years ago, the wedge, of Dorothy Hammill fame?
She said she wasn’t sure, but she just came down from New York and that is where she had it done. My heart sunk a wee bit, it was so adorable and she was a large woman too and it did not make her look at all like a pin-head, which seems to be my fear of late with this enormous body of mine, worrying about looking that way, yep, like a PIN HEAD! My heart sunk... with fear, because I wondered; could these local salons know how to do it?
And with me always going to the cheap chain ones?
My hopes were temporarily dashed.
But I had been thinking for a while that I needed something to turn this bummer of a depression into somehow making me feel better about me…looking in the mirror is too horrifying for me, because I literally don’t see me anymore, I see a very short fat ugly old woman, and if I had Alzheimer’s I would absolutely be lost on who that person is?
So I gave this lovely young woman a real challenge in that reasonable chain hairstyling place, and she came through!
I feel pretty, oh so pretty and witty and bright! (La, la, la etc…)
Well, that’s going a bit too far, but you women out there know what I mean, eh?
For less than twenty bucks, I don’t really have me back, but an older shorter fatter and not as pretty facsimile, and I suppose it will do for now!
At least when I now look into the mirror I smile back at that person, whoever she is?
Hubby got the boards needed to start the process of a board walk down to our dock, nails and all. The discount store provided me with a nighty a new blouse, and a very reasonable bathrobe; sadly, I didn’t have one that fit anymore…Company’s coming and we need to share the bathroom, in case you were wondering why!
It’s only polite to be properly attired when they come to visit, right?

We accomplished all we set out to do, including returning those two new books that were due back to the library place of all returns.

So on that upbeat note of due diligence I will bid you all a very good night, and ask you not to forget to count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Keep Charlotte Beautiful the home edition continued today

Hubby was gaining momentum today with the continuance of the beautification of the outer limits of our property. Translation: more yard-work ensued today!

Even Hubby’s next generation of tomato plants were planted, seedlings about six inches tall, a dozen in all. The varieties are Big Boy and Romas. Our lettuce is still abundant, carrots also, and the peas are starting to pod, cucumbers are slower, but growing.


Ah… farming in the south in March, are you all jealous?
Today Hubby also grabbed one of our tangelos from our tree, and we shared its sweet pulp together. The Ponderosa lemons are flowering as well as our Key limes!
The avocado tree somehow appeared untouched by our short nasty weather of the previous months.
Our Gardenia bush, nearly ten feet in height received a major pruning, although none of it was harmed by the awful cold spell, the colder weather seemed to make it become overgrown.
The Hibiscus bushes all but two of the seven appear to be coming back, hooray!
How I love them too, almost as much as my two Gardenia bushes, one is in the front yard another anchoring the pond, which is the one we worked on today. Mostly clearing away the under growth.


I physically did help today with the aid of the rolling garden bench/cart we have, nearly forgot that we had it.
With it, it allowed me to roll around to accomplish everything from weeding to helping to prune the Gardenia bush, not too shabby in the assistant helper department huh, oh make that eh?

Mom’s car made the list of recalls it’s 2008 Cobalt, and so an email went up to her neighbor. He already was aware of it and had plans to take care of it, what a guy!

Last night I got slightly upset with an email we received from a real estate person who Hubby has contacted in trying to find Mom maybe a condo not far from us, and we would then have a professional company, http://www.grannynannies.com/ take care of her a few days a week.
Anywho, the woman emailed back with eight properties that looked just like what Hubby had requested, but she thought it was for his Mother-in-law not his Mother, and that bothered me.
You see, my Mom passed away way back in 1982, and you only get one, you know?
And so I wanted Hubby to straighten her out about the mistake, but he couldn’t see the problem, and didn’t understand at first why it was such a big deal to me but it was.
I composed a return email that was acceptable to both of us, letting the woman know of her mistake and she emailed back that she was sorry!
I also wonder if she wonders if we are heartless palming his Mom off on strangers but I don’t really think that I am physically capable to take care of her properly, if I did I would. And we have not met the realtor in person yet.
As I have said many times before she is physically healthier than her son or I, him being disabled from his back injury and me with my MS and arthritis. But she is eighty-nine and has some form of dementia that creates extreme bouts of forgetfulness, which frustrates Hubby something awful. I just repeat everything to her, which I do sometimes anyway, LOL!

Sorry for not being so funny tonight…tomorrow is another day!
Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Welcome to March peeps!

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb?
Sure hope so.
It’s an idiom you know?
I am speaking about the above theory about March; which is an idiom that is a cultural/regional or artistic manner of speech.
Whew, that’s a mouthful, you know?
I hope that was as plain as day, more like mud… you say!

Today was the day that Hubby decided to make the exterior trees and shrubs pay for their freezing into the uglies, and he tortured them to become presentable once more by severe pruning of their dead heads and twiggy protruding spindly wooden bare grotesque branches.
Got that?
Now, I was sort of like the quarterback in the game, and perhaps with an injury, but from the sidelines, since I couldn’t really get into the game, but I was able to call the plays suitably from there.
Hubby, seemed to really want my input, and so I did do my best judgmental determinations of what should stay and what should go… flora wise…
And I must admit it looks quite a bit better but there is still much more to go…yep go.
Some from that ungodly weather of cold, and dare I say freeze are renewing all by themselves but others are looking a bit more than a little bit dead?
The Princess Bride circa 1987 comes to mind with that line of Billy Crystals'.
Hopefully they are just that…only a little bit dead; time will tell.
I figure by hurricane season we should know for sure, buda, dum, dum.
Some of the palms have yellow fronds but have perked up so there’s the rub, a little dead seems to be an appropriate diagnosis.

My Hubby did an experiment and it worked.
Dinner was a trial by fire, actually electric … what Hubby did is he tried to duplicate the recipe of one of the oldest fast food restaurants (of 88 years), their comfort food burgers.
You know the one with the royal home as their logo and their buildings are also in that shape of where the royals roam.
Anywho, I must admit that his steaming of the little meaty gems with also chopping away those little tiny onions in the food processor and steaming them as well; did work!
The proper combination of pickles and cheese, mustard and ketchup with the tiny buns were too good to be true. You see we don’t have this chain anywhere around here.
But they were a fond memory from our childhoods.
Previously they were only to be had frozen in the warehouse stores, but now we have some more freshly made ones in our own freezer made by Hubby’s own hands!
The secret is still pretty much safe but if I told you a rolling pin was used in the process would that be cheating?
That’s all folks!

I miss those days that we both enjoyed figuring out recipes from restaurants we took pleasure in and on occasion improved upon them to make them at home.
Although, at this point in time of my life I do so prefer going out to be waited on, and kick back without worry of mess up or cleanup, just get up and go home and see my kitchen as I left it; all clean and neat. But wait Hubby did that; but I did make the sides though and cleaned all the dishes in the sink that were there when I had finished…Hubby finished up his; team work is good too!

On that pleasant thought I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go? :   My eyesight is going again... in case you missed it... Netanyahu snaps back against growing...